The Elite Forum
The Big Three Plus One => General Chat => Topic started by: NathanStinson on June 29, 2019, 02:51:21 pm
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The saddest day of the year has come... The VA meet has come to an end for 2019. Discuss all happenings and thoughts and post photos and videos and clips and anything you want here.
Did anyone get a photo of the group picture from Mrs. W yet?
I will share some random thoughts below and maybe later as well. In the car with Mgay on the way to Baltimore currently.
The Weathertons were great as always. So awesome visiting and catching up with them and then continuing to put up with us. I hope I never take any of it for granted.
The new guys were really cool. Got to talk with Meleeman and Andy the most. Spoke briefly with Kazuya through translate. It appeared he was having a great time. He was constantly playing kart and smiling. He seemed to have a great time. Meleeman really improved over the week and is talking about getting into playing more competitive kart and even would like to go to the European meeting. Sorry we didn't get to play GoldenEye, Andy. I'll make more effort next year :) Lewis was a source of wild energy and lack of sleep this week also. I'm glad he enjoyed PAL and got some easy PRs. Lol.
It does my heart good to see everyone in the group doing well. No matter how hard life gets at times, we always have each other for support and camraderie and friendship. I don't take you guys for granted and hope you guys don't as well. Having all of you VA meet'ers in my life is a constant source of growth and improvement.
Big thanks to Kyle for picking me up at the airport and for the rides and big thanks to Abney for letting me stay over at his place before we flew out together. Also thanks to Mgay and JT for the rides along the way.
There's never enough time to do all I really want to do with everyone, but I feel like I got a lot of it this year. Some of the outdoors things include swimming with the guys several times and just relaxing and chatting on the dock (including watching the storms come in the last evening), multiple volleyball games, catch with frisbee and footballs, several cornhole games (USA takes down Canada!), and Extreme Bocci Ball. Sitting and chatting out on the deck as we eat supper is always a highlight for me as well. The only "big" things I feel I missed were the boat ride (had a semi finals match) and we didn't get to do smores (weather related). Other than that I had a blast with the outside activities.
I really liked The Mind and Just One (box games we played there) and I enjoyed watching other groups play various box and puzzle activities. Frankie's intensity playing Mario kart time trials still amazed me plus his intensity at everyrhing else in life. Seeing Clark play some Pilotwings and explain it to Meleeman was nice. I enjoy Clark's dedication to a game that not many people know anything about. I wish there had been more piano being played (I missed Mgay's Rainbow Road :( ). I really appreciate DK playing random games with me this week and the constant references to some of my more colorful southern idiosyncrasies. DK is a really cool guy. DK and Infil are both really swell guys for modding werewolf and providing instructions and guidance on new box and board games for people.
The new Jackbox games we played were a lot of fun. I'm glad we played a lot and I agree with Ngamer that we should make an effort to play some via discord sometime in the near future.
The Kart tournament was actually fairly enjoyable for me for a change. I'm in a better mental place than I have been in recent years so I was able to just absorb things and play the game and have fun. I always enjoy watching people play. It helped a lot being able to lightly chat with Dennison and Zoran and Ngamer and Dan during rounds. Thanks guys. Congrats to Zoran for winning it all and for Jones and Dan getting back into the finals after a hiatus and for Beck getting to his 3rd straight final against brutal competition. Shout out to the Toilet Bowl XL stream and Clark barely edging out Uno. Also the commentating crew was great all around and the Kart after Dark crew especially.
More thoughts coming later
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My favorite thing at VA is volleyball, such casual fun games and no one even keeps track of who wins or loses! Except...
2019 Volleyball Results
Tuesday
Team Ng wins 21-17
Team Ng wins 21-12
Team Infil wins 21-13
Team Kyle wins 21-18 (over team Infil, Ng inside sorting Kart Play-Ins, replaced by Kyle)
Wednesday
Too Hot For Volleyball!
Thursday
Team Ng wins 21-17
Team Thingy wins 12-10 (time to eat so only playing to 11; Thingy serve streak to comeback from down 6-10)
Team JT wins 22-20 (comeback from down 19-13)
Team Ng wins 21-17
Team Ng wins 21-18 (playing with only 4 versus 5)
Team Ng wins 21-13 (playing 4v5, plus Thingy sitting down half the game)
Friday
Team Ng wins 21-18
Team JT wins 21-12
Team Ng wins 11-9 (short game before group picture)
Final Scores
Team Ng 8-4 (10-2 if not for those brutal comebacks)
Team Frankie 4-3
Team JT 6-7
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Hey Ng, I think Drew loaded his mother's camera card onto his computer, so if you want to get those photos for the archive, ask him.
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We had a great time with Jackbox and will be playing more of these games in Chat over twitch in the coming months. My favorite new game is a RAP BATTLE, here are some of the sick verses we slung at the Lakehouse.
QB (to DK)
(https://forums.the-elite.net/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.upload.speedrunwiki.com%2Fimages%2Fmisc%2FQBtoDK.png&hash=521e3c3d2aedad7eb9cfdaf2bd1839679794c4eb)
Ng (to DK)
(https://forums.the-elite.net/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.upload.speedrunwiki.com%2Fimages%2Fmisc%2FNgtoDK.png&hash=8c3e344ee71d9f073e4bfdf7849f62d19cd58316)
Ng (to Infil)
(https://forums.the-elite.net/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.upload.speedrunwiki.com%2Fimages%2Fmisc%2FNgtoInfil.png&hash=235153ecdcb82ac97ccd28b034db3f5919361a54)
Infil (to Ng)
(https://forums.the-elite.net/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.upload.speedrunwiki.com%2Fimages%2Fmisc%2FInfiltoNg.png&hash=c35f76e0576903a83ff15593a7f6a26adeaacbec)
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I was able to play very fun. Thank you for holding this tournament.
I discussed with Jones.
In order to make the tournament video known in Japan, it is better to put Japanese behind the title name.
The Japanese name is "【マリオカート64 トーナメント大会】".
【example】
title name → Mario Kart 64 Tournament - VA 2019 Play-Ins【マリオカート64 トーナメント大会】
Japanese often watch youtube and Nico Nico Douga.
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Excuse me, I have one more idea.
How about trying to put in the revival game of Play-ins from next year?
For example, let's make it the last frame of TOP 16 and the loser revival frame.
Among the losers, 4 people with high points fight.
The person with the highest point advances to TOP16.
【Image example】
(https://i.imgur.com/ANbj89I.png)
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Does anyone have any of the group photos for us?
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Does anyone have any of the group photos for us?
Hey Ng, I think Drew loaded his mother's camera card onto his computer, so if you want to get those photos for the archive, ask him.
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Interesting "Last Chance Round" idea from Kaz
(https://i.imgur.com/DfBEjAS.png)
Essentially we'd have four auto-bids (last year's Finalists) plus 11 people earning their way in directly through the Play-In points. Then the 16th and final spot would be earned in a four way matchup between 16-17-18-19.
Would certainly make for entertaining viewing! We can decide if we'd like to go this route in the Tournament Discussion topic when that comes up.
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Interesting "Last Chance Round" idea from Kaz
(https://i.imgur.com/DfBEjAS.png)
Essentially we'd have four auto-bids (last year's Finalists) plus 11 people earning their way in directly through the Play-In points. Then the 16th and final spot would be earned in a four way matchup between 16-17-18-19.
Would certainly make for entertaining viewing! We can decide if we'd like to go this route in the Tournament Discussion topic when that comes up.
That and the C match for Semis are really good ideas honestly and following up, maybe a last chance round for 8, 9, 10, and 11 for the last spot in the Semis. So that way we're not going overboard with the extra matches. (No offense to Boss' idea of the format)
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Sitting at Kyle's apartment this afternoon and decided to type some more random thoughts:
I really enjoyed all the random games I was able to play. F-Zero X, F-Zero GX, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Smash Ultimate 8 player, several Jackbox games, Diddy Kong Racing, Mario Golf, Mario Tennis 2v2 matches, Wayne Gretsky Hockey, and two new box games (The Mind and Just One). Lots of fun moments. The DKR was the most competitive match at that game I've ever played (Zoran agrees) and was a lot of fun. Thanks to everyone who played these with me.
I sent the most time with the DC crew (Kyle, JT, and Jake) as well as the Salt Mine crew (Mgay, Dennison, and Uno). We had a really fun time going to two different sporting events (sorry for leaving you alone at the Orioles game, Mgay) and we got to see a Wayne Rooney goal. Lots of hilarity was had at everyone's expense at different times. Mgay and Dennison and I all go way back at this point and we all understand each other really well and have pretty similar personalities. Uno fit in very well in the basement with us.
It was good having so much Canada representation this time. I really enjoyed having PY (Pee Hwy) back. He's a guy I always enjoy visiting and catching up with. Ricky survived some ridiculous flight issues to get back home, shout out to Uno for his assistance.
I probably talked with Ngamer more often this year than most years. I'm glad Clark decided late to come. It was really great seeing him again.
Here is a group photo: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-AkJ0_dzdIVR7FecnLF_Hb3G6UICOzEJ/view?usp=sharing
Going to lunch. Will type more later maybe
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Spooky Box
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Hey everyone, thank you so much for hosting this amazing meet! I'm really glad I came and it was awesome to finally meet you guys in person. Kart was super fun but also just hanging out and doing crazy different stuff like volleyball, jackbox, and werewolf were what made this an amazing time for me. You were all super nice to meet, talk to, and hangout with, and made me feel super welcome! I was actually going into this event planning to quit video games after and have this sort of be a last hurrah for me, but this was the best week I've had all year and I have a new desire to play this game again and would love to meetup again sometime in the near future!
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I just wanted to thank the Weathertons for hosting this and everyone else who made the experience a great one. It was interesting to talk to people and get pointers on MK64. Shout out to Jake for helping me land the spiral jump on Rainbow Road and get a solid 1'08 god time. I enjoyed hanging out with everyone and felt comfortable even though this was my first time going to this event. I definitely hope to return next year and to also meet up with some of the eastern U.S. crew in the coming months as well.
I've had a stressful year and this meet really was a good thing for me.
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A big thank you to Abney for his time on building this VA 2019 site and all the streaming stuff. Also to the commentators taking their time to comment. Seems I'd have to rewatch my match for that.
A huge thank you to Andy and Kyle, taking me from/to the airport was very appreciated. I know Andy had a pretty rough time on the way down and had to go the extra distance on the next day for it. Kyle had to wake up super early on the last day even though he would have slept in, plus he had to go to both airport.
It was fun seeing everyone again after a 3 years break, unfortunately my karting wasn't up to par after such a break while it was a lot more competitive than 3 years ago where top 16 was a given and a few of the top 16 were pushovers. This time there were even some pretty good playins match and all the top 16 weren't easy.
I enjoyed my time, I felt I had more time to do whatever. Played a bunch of board games thanks to infil and had a go at overcooked and catastronauts which was pretty fun as I enjoy co-op games. Plus of course I learned how to solve a rubik cube with my coach infil.
We had so great Cornhole games too. Notably Andrew's shot to win the 2nd game by knocking one of his own bag in the 3 points hole while also making sure his dropped off which he called before throwing. Tying the thing 1-1 then the final game being tied at 20 for like 5 rounds until team USA made a breakthrough. I didn't get any volleyball action since my sunscreen blew up in my bag on the way there. But I did play more karts than the previous years I went.
Was fun meeting "new" guys such as Zoran who is super nice and likes to give advices. Of course all the other like Andy, TYG, Meleeman, Joo, trash cat Kazuya etc who were all very eager to play some kart. Kazuya reminded of me when I first went many many years ago not speaking that much english. Was great seeing him have fun and he got better and better as the meet went on.
Was great seeing the old guys too of course :p. Scott and Soph are always down to play some games. Infil DK QB were playing a fun thing most of the time so I could usually jump in or ask too many questions. Too bad I sucked at the just one word game sometimes by not getting some of the references.
Hoping to make it work again next year.
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Finally got home after a 24+ hour trip from the house and got some good rest.
3rd time in VA and i liked it the most, great group of people there this year. I was very happy when i saw new guys play for the 1st time because i was afraid some might get run over by the competition which was strong this year. Luckily it wasn't the case. Kazuya picking up on WS jump while small so fast was impressive.
That semi between Abney, Frankie, Stinson and me was one of the best matches i have ever played. Abney had a strong beginning, but we never gave up on him and Stinson almost making a complete comeback after a rough special cup.
Reading comments from Abneys fans during that match was hilarious.
As for the finals, best case scenario would be a close match which you take on the last corner, but i'll take this as well. I had a really good race in the finals, i feel like it was one of my best performances ever, even with that DK mistake i made.
I really like the idea that Kazuya posted for the next year.
Loved Zubys prediction videos and commentary, wish he was here for live commentary.
Other then kart, i really enjoyed volleyball and werewolf as always + secret Hitler which i played for the 1st time.
I prefer playing volleyball with my shoes on because it is easier to control the ball with feet that way, but after some close calls on the net i had to play bare footed which took away my special powers :cry:.
WW game where maleman, TYG and me were wolfs was the best game ever. I really enjoyed that one and was super happy about how we played it.
Secret Hitler seams like a great game as well. We were all unfortunately pretty new to it, but it was still fun. To bad MR wasn't there, you just know there is no chance he would have ever drawn a liberal :D.
DKR round we had was super fun as Stinson said. I never had an opportunity to play MP with someone who knew what they were doing. It was a pretty close match in the end as well :cool:.
Big thanks to Andrew and his parents for making this happen every year. Having someone offering his house for this event is just huge.
I hope i will return...
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it was great to see everyone and meet the new folks. I am so happy I made the trip and honestly can’t say I’ll threaten to miss ever again.
Thanks for staying up all night TYG, that was a lot of fun.. GUN START BITCHES!!!
Chainz n Blades still ain’t nuthin to f with
I love love love talking potential shortcut strats with the worlds best
Volleyball gets more fun every year
Sometimes I wonder exactly how many girlfriends Abney has. Dude must be covered in them from his stream
Overall my love for kart had been revived. I hope to stream soon and maybe snag a few more shortcut times. I will be ready for next year’s kart tournament. I hope you all are ready too
PS The Weathertons are the best. Much love for them and their drive to host is every year
Til next year :pimp:
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Nice Nate! Uploaded to our folder for this year
http://vameet.speedrunwiki.com/2019/pictures/
If anyone else has pictures they'd like to have added, post them here.
(https://forums.the-elite.net/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fvameet.speedrunwiki.com%2F2019%2Fpictures%2FGroupPicture-FullGroup.jpg&hash=2a12c349c83a0682dabfb9747257ce984e5e142e)
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My photos up: https://photos.app.goo.gl/1atQtqtKjge72qcy8
Take what you want from there Ng. A few good ones
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Way to snap off those shots Nate! Folder updated
http://vameet.speedrunwiki.com/2019/pictures/
Some highlights:
Hilarious Kart Action
(https://forums.the-elite.net/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fvameet.speedrunwiki.com%2F2019%2Fpictures%2FKart-JTTrentZoranPYL.jpg&hash=1717a56ab0c23c6b8768933b3cc70cbe0ab11427)
The Pure Intensity of VA Werewolf
(https://forums.the-elite.net/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fvameet.speedrunwiki.com%2F2019%2Fpictures%2FWerewolf.jpg&hash=c46e437a2a39be2172199ed712d285714b78e23c)
Nate Enjoys Watching the World Cup With Friends
(https://forums.the-elite.net/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fvameet.speedrunwiki.com%2F2019%2Fpictures%2FWorldCup-NatesBigTriple.jpg&hash=471c8c9a77ca20cd22678c699acb9f6cc022603b)
Abney, The Mind Reader
(https://forums.the-elite.net/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fvameet.speedrunwiki.com%2F2019%2Fpictures%2FTheMind-NgJonesAbneyDrew.jpg&hash=6cb8dbaf567511f30406747b39473ff79ca18aa3)
The Elite Eight
(https://forums.the-elite.net/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fvameet.speedrunwiki.com%2F2019%2Fpictures%2FGroupPicture-KartEliteEight.jpg&hash=5fadb7dd306be3bdb08049c7e0411ab2f88db1ae)
The Originals
(https://forums.the-elite.net/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fvameet.speedrunwiki.com%2F2019%2Fpictures%2FGroupPicture-TheOriginals.jpg&hash=01dcc9cd6def190030bf4d597595736fb32d3471)
167 Pounds of Pure Hunk
(https://forums.the-elite.net/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fvameet.speedrunwiki.com%2F2019%2Fpictures%2FGroupPicture-NgPointerPic.jpg&hash=248bed7c89cb28a3e8119f2aa63619539ad92374)
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I get serious FOMO from reading this thread. Looked like a blast. New job now in probation period but will try my best to get out there next year!
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Spooky Box
Ok, guess I'll expand on my recap.
Overall, I had a ton of fun once again this year. My only complaint is that the meet felt shorter than normal for some reason, Saturday morning snuck up on me! I felt like I was scrambling around a bit on Monday and Tuesday, and then I was focusing for kart rounds on Thursday and Friday, kinda made me
It was really great to see all the guys again. JT and I hung out a ton over the week, though some of that was at Beck's stream's expense lol. Every year I seem to find myself talking to different guys more than before, and this year I was glad to have some more discussions with Trent. He was telling me about his trip to Antarctica at the O's game on Saturday, sounded like a really awesome experience! I also had more chats with DK and Infil, just about random things that popped into our heads. It was also great to meet the new guys, I can finally say I've met the legendary TYG! I had a few talks with Andy and Meleeman too, seemed like pretty cool guys. Next time I'll be sure to get to know you all better for sure! It was also cool to meet Kazuya, even though I'm 100000% sure I butchered his name every time.
For the kart tournament, I easily played the least amount of kart I've ever played at this meet. I would go so far as to say I played more official matches than practice rounds. I'm not sure if that hurt me or not, but I still played really well in the R16 ending up tied for 3rd. The semis were both tough, and I didn't particularly care who I played against in them (despite some people criticizing my choice to let zoran pick his seed) as I knew it'd be a hard fought round either way. I left too many points on the table early (think I had a poor star cup, like 3 points or something terrible), but the last 5 races were pretty gutwrenching in terms of luck (again, it was all my fault and I'm not blaming luck, but if I got a few better breaks towards the end that woulda been nice lol), and you can see that in my post match reaction, but overall I can't have too many complaints about the round. Just didn't get the job done. A 6th place finish is still fine with me, my goal was to make the semis and then see where the chips fall since the field this year was so stacked, so I got myself in a good position and that's all I can ask for really.
Since I didn't play as much kart, I had more time to do other activities around the lakehouse. I easily played more of the table games with Infil, DK, et al. I really enjoyed the Mind, and even though I only played it once we made it through the entire gauntlet. I also enjoyed the game where you build your own town (can't remember what it's called, all I know if Crackville was doomed from the start) and the game where you guess the word (that pipe round was a bit brutal for me to get first try, I couldn't make the connection).
I also really enjoyed playing other N64 games. Lots of Mario Tennis this year, Stinson and Drew vs JT and I was a classic battle! I think Jake and I only played once, and it was another grueling tiebreak battle. Wayne Gretzky was fun as always, JT, Jake and I played it quite a bit the day before the meet started, and we got a few others to join when we were there. Finally, I was able to get a Jeopardy round in with JT and Trent. Let's just say it's a good thing that wasn't streamed lol.
The late night activities we did was fun... for the most part. I've kinda lost interest in werewolf at this point, the games feel slow and boring to me. It feels like we spend 30 minutes talking about nonsense for someone to make a gut read and it to be right or wrong, or for a seer to dumbluck his was into a wolf. I don't mean to rip the game apart or anything, I just don't have the attention span for it these days. I do still enjoy playing and munching on some animal crackers on the couch so I'm willing to play a bit going forward, just don't expect me to make many contributions in the future (not that I ever really have lol). Quiplash was entertaining as always, I feel like we had a good amount of memes this year so each round felt pretty fresh, not too much recycling going on (though we did drive stinsons own and weenor into the ground lol). I know they tried them the last day, but I'm interested in playing more of the jackbox games going forward. Think some of those have some great potential.
I probably forgot some things, but I'll wrap it up here for now. Like I said, I had a ton of fun this year. Can't thank the Weathertons enough for their hospitality, I think most people here understand just how gracious they are and that they are more accommodating to us than they really need to be, so for that I'm thankful. I hope to see you all again next year, I know I'll try everything I can to make it!
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I’m sure it’s the same for most of you guys, but hands down this is the best week of the year!
Even though I didn’t hit Top 16 this year, I definitely won more individual races than I did last year by a significant margin. UNO QUATRO FTW! :)
Sunglasses > Mushroom Hats
I also was able to play more volleyball this year and there were some great matches. I hope to be 100% so I can play more next time. It was nice being in the basement crew and letting Dennison borrow my fan. :P
I’m super glad that we updated the schedule so Frankie was able to make it and also having Clark come back to defend the toilet bowl (which he did)! I got to play a variety of other games which was a nice change of pace. A nice dip in the lake after a morning run was perfect and just what I needed. It was nice talking to the Weatherton’s and getting their perspective on life’s changes.
MeleeMan and I had a rough drive back but we were able to stop at a CVS and get some medicine to keep him from dying because of the dusty Air BnB. Then I proceeded to miss the exit for the airport twice!
And when I thought the week was over, I got to pick Infil up from the airport for one last night of food, games, and fun.
I’ve started watching back some of the stream and the commentary is great. Hopefully JT can find enough Cheerwine to pay up on his debts. A few of us have committed to getting together throughout the year so if you’re interested be on the lookout for some meetups later on.
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Enjoyed the meet as always! Travel back was really brutal for me this year, but it would have been worse if not for Uno being a super pal and hosting me for a night after my flight got canceled, so many thanks to him.
I spent more time this year just doing stuff while others were playing N64 (rather than waiting for that other stuff to finish), and I thought that worked out well for my overall enjoyment. I'm glad The Mind ended up being a hit, and I'm also glad a few people (PY, Mgay) enjoyed working on the rubik's cube a bit. I'm glad to see all my friends each year, but in particular was glad to see PY make it back, since it's almost impossible not to smile when he's in the room. It's also great to hang out with QB, DK, Thingy/Soph, Kyle, and the others who always seemed down to play a board or video game when asked.
Also hung out with DK for 3 days before the meet, which was a ton of fun for me. I'm gonna try to keep tying in a secondary trip to VA either before or after as long as I can find people willing to host me. This year marks 10 years from when DK came to visit me, so I'm glad I got to repay the favor and I hope he had as much fun as I did.
I'm also glad to hear Kazuya had a good time. I was a little nervous he'd feel a bit lonesome due to the language barrier. I tried speaking Japanese to him a little bit, since I studied it in university and know enough to get by in conversation, but either he was nervous/shy (very understandable) or my Japanese made him feel a bit awkward (perhaps even more understandable). I wanted to get him to try The Mind, actually! I knew enough Japanese to explain the rules and since it doesn't require speaking, I thought he might find it fun, but it didn't work out unfortunately.
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Loved Zubys prediction videos and commentary, wish he was here for live commentary.
Thanks so much and I would've tried commentary vids from home but I didn't think my tablet would allow that so the stump the fans questions may have to wait another year even though some of them have became void after this year's play.
Also here are some FUN FACTS related to the tournament:
Abney's win in MMF 1A was actually his first win on that track since 2017 in 2B against Jimbo, Weatherton, and Dan Burbank where Mark Jones covered it on his "Anatomy Of A Race" show
Speaking of Mr. Burbank he would've been in 5th going into the Top 16 anyways because had Great Scott not got lost this year Dan would've been the #5 seed regardless so it was cool to see his 45 point performance and prove why he stayed in that #5 slot. And speaking of the 45 point round, it is the 4th or 5th highest score in the history of the VA tournament but I guess the legends already knew that.
Trent's CM win in Play-In 1E was actually his first win there since the Semi A back in 2016, and his KTB win in Play-In 2E was his first since playing in Abney's bracket in 2A of the 2017 Play-Ins.
Zoran's win in RRd in Play-In 1A this year was his first since Semi A back in 2016.
Mark Jones' wins on Yoshi Valley & Choco Mountain in Play-In 1D were his first since his last 2 appearances in the Finals (not including this year that is)
Stinson only won on 8 different tracks before his comeback to the final 8 this year.
And lastly of next year's autobids Dan & Jones were the only 2 to win all of the tracks at least once.
That's all the Facts from this year you need to know about, I know this is too early for me to spoil but there will be at least 1 Stump The Fans question that has to do with each of next year's autobids but that will come in the Top 16 in 2020 so it's going to be a year or so of waiting for that.
And until then this has been ZubyDoo77 with all the extended analysis of this year's tournament.
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It was an amazing week for me as usual. I like to go in the lake a lot usually, unfortunately I got a pretty bad sunburn on Wednesday so that was the end of that. I also tried to get more sleep this year so I skipped out on some nights of WW/Quiplash/Secret Hitler/whatever else. It was a good decision as far as getting sleep to do well in the tournament though.
Highlights for me were finally getting back to the finals, going in the lake Tuesday/Wednesday, karting with Meleeman on Friday before the semis, talking more to Mrs. W this year, having a really fun round with Stinson and getting to see him enjoy kart, setting that NTSC record on Koopa Troopa Beach, getting 24"44 three laps in a row on Mario Raceway, car rides with Zoran and more.
Looking forward to the Euro meet in a couple weeks and looking forward to next year!
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Missing in 2017 was sad, but the upside is it made me appreciate how special this week is, and 2018 & 2019 have been my favorite VAs ever as a result. To be fair, my increased enjoyment level might also have something to do with how I'm no longer setting up the sunroom, and the basement, and a gaming rig upstairs, and running three weeklong tournaments, and organizing events outside the house... but that's pure speculation!
My top highlight of the week was a random late night discussion of the human brain and talking about our weird dreams with Infil, Clark, DK, Mgay, and PY (okay so actually he just listened, but still). I especially liked how I said something about Thingy's dreams, only for him to appear out of the mist a minute later and interject to confirm it. Such an interesting subject, and I never get a chance to talk about my dream journal in everyday convos so it was a real thrill... just a shame Neo wasn't there to share his lucid dream adventures!
Oh, and I also had a great time watching the one USA World Cup game we had that week (a knockout quarterfinal versus France). Would love to do more live sports group watches in the future, fingers crossed that next time we can get a week with the NBA Finals happening or the Olympics or something! As for scheduled events though
Volleyball - This is always my favorite activity and this year was no different. People probably assume I feel that way because I look like a Golden God in my Guns Out sleeveless T (and let's face it they aren't wrong), but what I actually love is how it's competitive but comes down to teamwork and communication. I feel like my lifetime winning percentage is pretty good not because I'm a talented player, but because I call out the shots for my side and encourage us to talk out there and stay motivated.
Our only big day this year was Thursday (played six games); I wish we did that many every day of the week! Wasn't going to be possible with the humidity and 90 degree temps and lack of cloud cover this year, but I'm hoping things cool off in 2020 so we can hit it hard.
Oh also I was so happy when it turned out Kaz knew how to play (pretty well in fact) and got into a few games with us! I know he came in wanting a 100% Mario Kart meet but I thought it was awesome that we found another activity he could do with the group as well, especially one that got him a little fresh air.
Swimming - I miss the days when we all played football or basketball or vball and then 20 of us hit the lake afterward and we'd throw around footballs and frisbees for an hour. The timing didn't really work out in 2019, we were always breaking up games to do supper or the late night Kart matches. At least we had some okayish groups of around 8 a couple times, better than the last few seasons... but hopefully the weather cooperates and we can do one big swim afternoon next time (maybe during the boat outing, so we could rotate and Mr. W could take out multiple groups).
Mario Kart - I'm always happy to help out with organizing things pre-meet and assisting with seeding and getting things scheduled around people's arrival times. BUT, I really want to hand off the duty of running around the house informing everyone of their match times and grabbing them when they're next up. I was always happy to be The Guy for making sure the Play-Ins happen before Jones would arrive later in the week, but now that there's 10 matches instead of just one or two it's just too much. Now accepting volunteers for the Clipboard Kartman position in 2020!
As for my own driving- it wasn't good! I'm fine with that though, all I want is to get in 2 or 3 practice rounds the first couple days [which actually went surprisingly well this week; see http://www.upload.speedrunwiki.com/images/gaming/2019DanNgZoranPY.jpg ] and then do other stuff and not touch an N64 controller the rest of the week outside of official rounds. If that means I can never crack the Sweet 16 again, that's okay!
Favorite little moment: Kaz MTing perfectly and nailing the Wario Stadium jump while small, leading to Dan and Zoran (who were watching that round from the side couch) meeting eyes and nodding in mutual admiration, "this kid's got the goods."
Jackbox Games - These were great fun, so much so that I'd like to play through them all over twitch in Chat over the coming months. Then we'll be able to find our favorites and make sure to get in a few rounds of them with everyone at VA 2020. I'm also really happy that our Robot Rhymes pics from above have been inspiring random Rap Battles in Chat for the last week, it's awesome!
Werewolf - I still love the CONCEPT of WW, and it's very cool to still have one event at the house that unites ~20 people (besides the Kart Finals), so I'd hate to see it go away entirely. However everyone is right in their complaints that we don't have enough information to go on and the kills are random and the Village is too useless/powerless. I'd like to see us do a couple vanilla games early in the week, for tradition's sake and to introduce the social game concept to the new players, but then transition to Secret Hitler or WW games with more special roles for the rest of the week. If we do the latter though we need to find new people willing to moderate, as those special games are exhausting to keep track of for Infil and DK!
Quick note on my own play: Whoops! I'll always be an awful seer because my game is to run my mouth/get as much info out in the open as possible, and if that ends up getting me lynched so be it (at least our power roles will survive). Clamming up was never going to work out because its so different and calls unwanted attention to myself, but I was happy to at least complete my goal of revealing actual info before my death, something the Village has rarely seen in the last five years. I was also pleased to see my hunch was correct when I peeked Trent as Wolf (but I got killed that night so I couldn't out him).
The Mind - Really neat idea for a game, and I'm assuming our group's run was very entertaining to watch (there's no topping Jones' facial expressions), but I'll never play again. Too stressful! We had some bad beats by running into so many 31 versus 32 situations (with gaps of 10 before the next numbers) in our early rounds but even aside from that my mindset is way too conservative for a game of that nature (as was correctly pointed out at the table); I never want to lay unless it's a sure thing because I'd feel so bad if I jumped the gun and cost us a life.
(Speaking of which, my bad on not laying the 21 directly after the 20 to burn us, my brain wasn't firing on all cylinders at that late hour and I forgot my lowest card, oopsies!)
Just One - This simple game was just the best. I was so proud of our table for nailing 12 out of 13 clues in our best round, and I had a blast coming up with off-the-wall alternative definitions to avoid wipeouts and help get our guesser over the hump (like clueing "Pantera" to get PY to Metal, while everyone else named rocks). QB was right to call me out for the hyphen clues, they weren't quite in the spirit of the game, but I think we'd have gotten our high score of 12 even without my couple questionable cheats so I'm still going to call it legit.
Flying - Is okay but would someone from the Midwest please drive next year? Anyone? It doesn't seem like that much to ask!
Rubik - No.
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I had a blast at the tournament. Everyone was super nice and welcoming to this noob. I don't think Trash Cat and I were there 5 minutes Monday night before Ngamer (basically a complete stranger, as was everyone else) asked us if we wanted to play a practice round with him and Jake. That was very nice of him.
The tournament itself was spectacular. The level of skill was INSANE. Congrats to Zoran for winning, but I'm not sure how he will cope with the fact that he lost a race to Trash Cat in the play-ins while on his championship run.
Watching Dan while he was time-trialing KTB to get that record was mind-blowing, but how can he rest knowing that the Trash Cat took a race from him during his SUPER-IMPRESSIVE 45 point round.
Highlights:
--Tuesday afternoon Beck asks if I want to race a practice round. I say yes. He says: "Let me see if Dan wants to play." Now I'm sitting on the couch racing Beck Abney and Dan Burbank, with Zoran leaning over the back of the couch watching over my shoulder. Probably not a big deal for most of you guys (because you know Beck, Dan, and Zoran), but for someone who only knows those guys from their multiple WORLD RECORDS and their VA meetup championships, kind of a HUGE deal. (I snuck in a couple of wins during that round, by the way. Unofficial, but I'll take them.)
--Getting squished by the egg on YV. I didn't even know that was a thing.
--Watching Trash Cat have 7 points after Mushroom Cup in the second round of play-ins.
--Placing 3rd on MR in my last race to get that final point to put Trash Cat under my heel for good, even though I think PY let me have that one. BTW, PY is like Larry Bird in that he very quietly talks crap to you when he is sitting next to you on the couch. So much fun!
Thanks so much to the Weathertons and to all you guys for putting on a great week! If you'll have me, I'd like to join again next year. I'd like a crack at that Toilet Bowl (lofty goals, I know.)
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Didn't have time to recap while on 2nd vacation in Alabama after the meet. That was a journey and a half. I could prob find enough entertainment for everyone with my crazy ass family down there recapping that instead...but I won't.
Pre-meet:
Several of us east coasters wanted to meet up before the meet for a couple days but it turned out to be only for Sunday evening where Jake, Kyle and I played several great games of Mario Tennis, Wayne Gretzky and I think 1 round of Kart and some alcohol was involved too. Monday was fun watching USA womens soccer at BWW after we picked up Stinson and Abney. From there it was off to the meet in Bumpass.
Meet:
Monday: Always an interesting day as people are filing in during the afternoon, evening and late night. Exciting times to see all the familiar faces and the new ones too. Not a whole lot crazy tends to happen. Several of us jumped in the lake not long after arriving and we swam around as we watched a storm approach. Also prob got in a few random games of WG and who knows what else...ive already forgotten. It's prob some time in the evening that the revelation was dropped that I didn't bring Cheerwine with me. I could see the face of dear old Stinson drop. His demeanor plummeted. It was then and there I knew I had to go out and get Cheerwine to keep Stinson's attitude positive all week.
Tuesday: I somehow missed breakfast. Maybe first time ever. I was upstairs a few minutes before 10am and breakfast was done...Not sure what happened, so I ate a muffin instead. Prob played some board games. I liked the mind game and the word guessing game when the person cant see it. That was fun. I know we all think differently but I dont think I'll ever let kyle forget about "pipe" haha. I cant actually remember what days we played all these games on so I'll just sum it up here. I think every year I get more in to the dining room table shenanigans. Last year Secret Hitler was fun and this year when we played it again I think I had even more fun, especially the back to back rounds drawing Hitler. That first game we won where Zoran was a fascist was played so wild and then so well somehow. I couldnt believe we pulled it off. And I had no idea Zoran was my fascist teammate haha. I for sure thought there was no way we would pull it off when Jake asked to see my card and then I had to lie about what I truly was. For next year I def am in for Secret Hitler again. And in a similar note, I will continue to play Werewolf, but I will say when we played with more roles last year it was a lot more fun. But I understand if we cant/wont do it for the stress on the moderators. But the most important part of Tuesday was leaving for Fredericksburg (FUCK THAT CITY FOR ALL THE TRAFFIC REASONS BTW) with Kyle to pick up Jones and Clark. While heading there we stopped at the store and picked up 4 cases of Cheerwine. I just knew my Stindog would now have the fight to make it all week. I also think I drank way too much of it during the week. Im Cheerwined out right now....
Wednesday: Along with Tuesday I enjoyed watching some play-in rounds both evenings. I like getting more matches in and as the week went on I got to do more and more commentary which i thoroughly enjoy. I prob should have done more practice before the meet. I felt good with my practice rounds during the meet when I played against others as I was always finishing first or second. But I also had even more fun doing all the other things around the house and outside. I will always play volleyball when its brought up and going to the lake can be fun and/or relaxing. For you guys who don't do as much outside things, take a load off and come out.
Thursday: LOL at my performances in Kart during the round of 16. Making excuses and drawing away from how you played is annoying to read and even say. I dont like doing it. But I have played a shit ton of multiplayer rounds in my life and I cant recall ever dealing with as much bad luck as I did in both rounds. There were times when driving mistakes cost me points too, but I felt like I never could get things to go my way. The 2nd round I think was the worst. I dont want to go back and watch those rounds again, but I have to eventually. It will prob be some night I drink. The positive side of bouncing out early was more commentary rounds. I had a great time commentating with Abney, Drew, Jones, Mgay, a little French Stin, a few NG quips I think too and dream team co-commentator Kyle. At times it was tough to keep it professional during the important races, but so many laughs were had during competitive rounds and especially the Super Toilet Bowl XL. It looked like chat was having a good time so I think most of us kept with it.
Friday: At this point I'm dead tired from lack of sleep. I think I made it in the lake once. I know we played volleyball cause we decided to get nice and sweaty for pictures. Great timing on that btw...lol. I commentated every single match of the semis, finals, and STBXL that night. I know for a fact I drank over 5 cheerwines during all that. So whatever happened during commentary, blame the caffeine. After all the matches had a grand time playing Jeopardy with Trent and Kyle. I knew that was going to be full of plenty of laughs and when "Starts with N" category came up I knew it was gonna get ridiculous. I think Abney had cut the stream by then and its a good idea that happened.
Saturday: Bye everyone.
Also Saturday: Full ass day of driving in traffic, avoiding storms, watching the Racist Cartoon Birds (Orioles) play the Indians with Kyle, Jake, Stinson, Mgay, Qwec and Trent. Wish they didnt have the rain delay so we could have watched more. We left early to go straight to see DC United play Canada and was awesome seeing Rooney Tunes score a goal. Crowd was way more hyped in that game than the baseball. Went back to Kyles and had some beers and tried to Kart, taking the co-champion of drunk kart award with Kyle that evening.
Sunday after dropping Stin off at the airport was pretty lazy watching some of the kart races. Finally left for home in the afternoon to deal with more traffic in Fredericksburg. I now hate that city more than any in the world.
In summation: Was an awesome week. Maybe the most fun Ive had during the week in the 8 years Ive been now? I cant remember how many. Always ever so thankful the Weathertons let that many idiots stay at their place for a week. I cant believe we havent ruined the place yet lol. I am always happy to see everyone of you guys during the week and its sad when we have to leave cause I wont see most of you for at least a year. One of these days I will try to venture west and visit maybe you Oklahomans or Coloradoroadifandfns or Californians. Or even Canadians! To the newer guys, I didn't get a whole lot of chances to talk to some of you dudes. My bad. I think you guys were spending a lot of time karting or near the kart action. I try to soak in a lot of it. If any of the newbs come again next year, try to get out and do some other things with us outdoors or in the board game area. I'll for sure talk to you more. Either way a lot of your faces will be familiar to me and it usually takes me a 2nd time around to talk to newer people. Just how I am I guess. Also to the newer guys, I hope you all had a great time during the week. What you saw is pretty much how it goes for a VA meet. Hopefully you all can make it again.
Thats about all I have. If I have any other points I prob will forget to make them. Until next year! (p.s. I want Frankie on commentary next year. Chainz n Bladez ripping up the karters on stream)
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Can't believe no one's mentioned this yet, but the undisputed highlight of the kart tournament was Trent taking an aggressive line on SL to win the race, and then his immediate post race reaction. I remember I was still racing that race (against Jones, so it was a pretty big finish for us), but I let out a little smile because it was amazing.
Trent in semis earning hilarious victories, a tradition unlike any other.
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Can't believe no one's mentioned this yet, but the undisputed highlight of the kart tournament was Trent taking an aggressive line on SL to win the race, and then his immediate post race reaction. I remember I was still racing that race (against Jones, so it was a pretty big finish for us), but I let out a little smile because it was amazing.
Trent in semis earning hilarious victories, a tradition unlike any other.
True that, it was a really great moment!
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That was indeed the most intense finish I can recall from the week.... those roar-inducing moments are what make VA one-of-kind.
Special nod to Nate, Uno, Mark, Trent, Meleeman (great to meet you), and good kitchen conversation with the ancient (lake) fellas. Meeting Kazuya was neat; he was brave for joining. Did well, too. Every year seems to take on a life of its own... I always hesitate to commit each year, but then I just remind myself how I've really enjoyed every single year. I appreciate all of you; if I don't really know you, I probably would like to know you. Ng -- always makes for good VAs when you're in your administrative mode :) "It's the reason they point at me".
Congrats to Zoran for a very impressive week of racing, in general. Great speech, too.
God Bless the Toilet Bowl and its dubious valor... let it be known that we also had an insane SL finish (in a group determined by 1 pt...). I'll keep being the 17th best player if you guys keep organizing these things.
Last thing: The OG 8 photo would look like a stock photo if I weren't thug-trolling it.
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Moments like that make everything worth it, don't they? haha
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:thumbsup
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So, I wanted to revisit the Toilet Bowl footage to catch the end of SL (I won it with an aggressive last turn). With commentary, I quickly discovered that the race for 1st place was not nearly as epic as the race for not-1st-place.
Enjoy:
Great call by JT
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It was definitely the most memorable part of all the moments I watched live